TVparty!
presents a rare recording of a radio interview from 1973 with comic
book industry pioneer Phil Seuling (seen left).
Unfortunately, the sound quality is not so good, coming from a beat
up old cassette tape.

Bored
as a kid, I would take my father's old crystal radio and tune in far
away stations looking for interesting talk shows, almost all of which
were local endeavors at that time.

In
the summer of 1973, I happened upon Lacey Listens, a weeknight
talker on WBT in Charlotte, NC and was hooked - there was something
about the young host Bob Lacey's easygoing style and informed interview
technique that kept me tuning in.

Because
I was a big comic book nut, I wrote to Bob Lacey and suggested some
people that might make good interviews. Much to my surprise he had them
as guests on the show. Artist Carmine Infantino, then the head of DC
Comics, was one I remember - and I recently stumbled upon this recording
of an interview with Phil Seuling.

This
broadcast occurred right after a fellow named Mitchell Mehdy
(right) made national news when he bought Action Comics
number one for a little over $1,800. He was the laughing stock of the
nation, but today that single comic book sells for hundreds of thousands
of dollars!

At
the time of this interview, Phil Seuling was building a very successful
mail order business selling back issues of comic books - something few
people had thought to do before him. He also organized the first New
York comic book convention in 1967; this became a yearly event and a
smart business move that helped make Seuling a very wealthy man.

The
value of classic comics grew by leaps and bounds between 1970 and 1974.
On his salary as an English teacher for the NYC public school system,
Seuling amassed one of the most valuable collections in the world.

In
Bob Lacey's interview, Phil talks of buying his first batch of old comic
books and suddenly realizing the potential market.

Seuling
quotes the worth of Big Little Books at five dollars at most
- and is astonished when an old lady calls up to say she was offered
ten dollars each. But then, Phil made a fortune buying comics for next
to nothing and selling them for a mint.

By
the 1980s, Seuling headed a thriving comic book distribution network
that supplied the newly emerging comic book specialty shops around the
country - in the process creating the so-called 'Direct Market' that
is the standard distribution method today.

Phil
Seuling passed away in the 1980s from Liver Cancer.

Today
the interviewer, Bob Lacey, is the co-host of the very popular Bob
and Sheri Show, heard in syndication nationally. This is absolutely
the best morning show out there - I never thought I'd say this - but
I actually listen every weekday to the program and I hate commercial
radio. I
was listening for several months before I made the connection - this
is the same Bob Lacey I listened to as a kid!